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ARTICLE: MY SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE HUNTS – OKLAHOMA: THE DOE TALE
The opening day of the 2022 Oklahoma muzzleloader deer season found me sitting in my stand at the Back Lot. I was on my annual hunting trip to my friend David’s property for the umpteenth time (I’ve lost count on how many trips there has been.) and was looking forward to getting a shot at another OK buck.
I had gotten to the stand early which was a switch for me. It seems no matter where I’m at or what season it is, I’m always running late on opening day but this day was different. After getting my stuff organized and the rifle primed I decided to get my binoculars set and focused on the food plot and feeder some seventy yards away down the hill.
As I focused on the plot I noticed what looked like legs at the edge of the brush another ten yards further. Thinking it to be a coyote at first I concentrated in the low gray light to try and determine for sure whose legs they were. Slowly the form of a deer emerged from the shadows and then another.
I watched as they slowly made their way out into the plot eyeing the area as they came out. They circled around the feeder and back into the trees.
“With deer moving this early, this could be an interesting morning” I thought. “Hopefully a big boy will show up and give me a shot.”
That part of Oklahoma had been in extreme drought for months and there wasn’t much for the deer to eat. The acorn crop had been reduced to almost nothing and the grass was brown like beef gravy and as crunchy as potato chips. The deer were coming to any good food source they could find as well as to feeders folks had put out for them.
There’s a creek running through the property, Cedar Creek and it was dry. I had seen it when water wasn’t running in it but there had always been pools of water standing along its length. There weren’t any pools! As my dad would’ve said, “It’s as dry as a popcorn fart”.
The two does worked their way back into the open and was followed by a third doe. As I picked out the biggest one to keep my eye on, this one I’d take a shot at if the opportunity arose a fourth deer appeared out of nowhere. The big gal made her way into the plot flanked by two of the smaller does. The fourth stayed back by the feeder.
I watched them through my binoculars as the sky got lighter and lighter. I checked my watch, a few minutes to go. I started watching them through my scope. The big gal stayed on the far side of the smaller does as the minutes ticked by not offering a clear shot yet.
I watched the deer for over ten minutes. Shooting time came and went as I continued to watch the deer. I switched from the scope to the binoculars as my arms got tired holding up the rifle as the smaller does wouldn’t give me a clear shot.
Finally my opportunity came. The one on the left took a step forward and the one on the right took a step forward giving me a clear broadside shot! There was a slight breeze so I was able to see how the doe reacted to the shot and see which way she ran.
Knowing I had a deer down and it was only 7:20 on opening morning I decided to stay in the stand until 8 o’clock to see if a buck showed up. My texts to my son Josh failed to send because of the bad service the Back Lot is noted for having sometimes.
To my surprise I got a message from Josh about 7:40. I was able to tell him I had shot a doe and was in no hurry to get down. That was the only message I was successful in sending although I did receive another from him at 8:15.
At eight I decided to wait until 8:30 to get down just because.
At 8:30 I lowered the rifle and climbed down. It didn’t take long to find her. She was lying about 30 yards in the woods up on a slight rise. The only problem and it was a good one I reckon was there were many old downed cedar trees between her and the road I had to drag her over and around.
It took me several tries and all I had to get her loaded on the front of the 4-wheeler. She weighed 130 pounds and was the first deer in camp. That made the second year in a row I had brought in the first deer.
Later that afternoon I was in my ground blind set up in a spot my friend Ronnie had set me up on three years before. I had never killed a deer there but had shot at a couple keeping my nickname The Crippler going. But we don’t need to bring up all of that right now.
Anyway, it was hot! I mean hot and I was a ball of sweat by the time I got setup in the blind. There was cross breeze from my left to right so I had both side windows open as well as the front. I had hung some earth scented wafers on the left side so the breeze would carry the scent across me before exiting out the opposite window and one on the right.
About a quarter past six I glanced out the right window and thought I saw something on the hill over my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if I had really seen something or had just blinked at the right time and saw a bird fly by. I dismissed it and continued my scan in the other directions. Upon returning to that direction I was amazed to see a deer standing there looking down the hill. It was a doe.
The past couple of years the county there had offered bonus doe tags to help bring the population in line so I figured I’d do my part and take her if I could.
In my mind she looked to be the biggest doe I’d ever seen. I was thinking, “The camp record will be mine. Hahaha…”
She gradually worked her way down the hill through the brush and trees fifty or so yards away. She would stop now and again and I just knew she was going to catch my scent at any moment and bust off.
She had passed the couple of shooting lanes I had cleared but I kept the scope on her waiting for a shot. The doe stopped between two trees with her head and backside hidden but the sweet spot was wide open.
Once again the breeze blew the smoke cloud away in my favor and I watched her out the front window run down the hill and across the road. I knew she was hit because her tail was down as she ran.
Wanting to remember the spot where she ran across the road I took some pictures of the spot. There was a small tree that had fell over and leaning against others that made an excellent land mark.
Taking time to run a few patches through the rifle (makes reloading much easier!) and reloading I set off down the hill to hopefully find the record setting doe. I walked down the road and easily found the fallen tree with the help of the picture. Walking across the road and up a bit I saw the blood trail. I found her about twenty yards or so in the woods.
Once again there was debris and old fallen cedar trees I was going to have to drag her over and through. I first carried my rifle out to the road breaking limbs and throwing what I could out of the way to make a path. I knew immediately that she wasn’t the record as I loaded her on the 4-wheeler. She came in at 110 pounds.
I was second in line cleaning deer that evening. Josh had taken a doe too. David followed me with the doe he had shot.
While pulling the hide from the doe I noticed that her right ham looked kind of bruised and told Josh, “I really beat her up dragging her out.” And just as I tugged the hide down the bullet fell out. It was right under the skin! That was really weird as I had hit her right behind the left shoulder. I guess she was quartering to me a little and the bullet traveled through her and ended up on the opposite side. I was sure glad to see and smell that it had not busted the gut.
So the first day of my Oklahoma trip was a good one. The pressure was off so to say with two mature does for the freezer. Now I was just trophy hunting. Would it be easy? I can’t confirm or deny that it was at this time. I’ll conclude this tale in the next chapter of My Series of Unfortunate Hunts. Until then, keep in touch with yourselves. Jim Bob
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